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July 15, 2022
Adidas Pacific has partnered with Indigenous Football Australia (IFA), which oversees the strategy and expansion of Australia’s longest-running Indigenous football initiative, John Moriarty Football (JMF). Combining their goals, the pair will provide more equitable access to football across Australia.
Launched on July 6 during NAIDOC Week Celebrations – a national week in Australia that celebrates the history and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the partnership is built upon Adidas’s belief in the transformational power of sport and shared ambition for equitability. Adidas and IFA have committed to working together to build Indigenous football in Australia through a series of initiatives designed to foster inclusivity and create opportunities in these communities.
John Moriarty, the first Aboriginal player selected to play football for Australia, and his son James Moriarty co-founded JMF. Its transformational skills program uses football for talent and positive change – with a track record of improving school attendance and achieving resilient, healthier outcomes for some of Australia’s most remote Indigenous communities.
Each week, JMF delivers to over 2,000 Indigenous girls and boys aged 2 to 18 years in 19 remote and regional communities and 20 primary and secondary schools in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Through the new partnership, adidas will sponsor IFA through JMF allowing it to increase its support across the country with scholarships, job opportunities and football equipment and uniforms.
‘This is a historic moment for Indigenous football in Australia. This support from global brand Adidas will help create sustainable social change and provide pathways to improved physical and mental health, wellbeing, education and community engagement for Indigenous girls and boys, families and communities,” said Moriarty.
“This year JMF celebrates 10 years of delivering transformational change through football in some of Australia’s most remote and disadvantaged Indigenous communities. The partnership will support IFA to continue to scale JMF so we can reach all states and more than 4,000 Indigenous children.”
Research suggests the strongest motivations for participation in sport and physical activity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals are related to health and community. However, factors that negatively affect participation include gender (females being less active than males), cultural perceptions of activities, racism, limited opportunities (particularly in remote and regional areas) and logistical difficulties such as cost and transport.
JMF’s scholarships aim to eradicate some of the barriers to participation in sports for Indigenous youth. Tobias Patterson Gregory, a scholarship recipient, reflected on the benefits he has received through the program, including a position at an Adidas retail store.
“Ever since I got the scholarship, I’ve had doubts like – is this real, can I actually be what I’ve always dreamed of being, a famous soccer/football player? But it was easy to overcome those doubts because I knew that everything I’m doing is to help my family and mostly myself to have a better future. Now almost fully being my second year living in Sydney, things have definitely become easier, such as traveling to and from places.”
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